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March 29, 2006

Graphic Novels & David J's Place

BatmanThe Washburn Review ran an article on the new Graphic Novel holdings in the "New Books" Section of Adult Services. This collection supplements the Graphic Novel holdings found in David J's Place. Bookmobile employee and graphic novel enthusiast Brian Adams was interviewed for the article. Read the entire article here!

TSCPL contains new adult graphic novels

 

By Melissa Treolo

 

  

 

One of the most harrowing accounts of the Holocaust is in the form of a book-bound comic strip.

Pascal Croci’s graphic novel, “Auschwitz,” contains disturbing sketches of men and women being shot in the head by Nazi officers and hundreds of people meeting a horrific demise in a concentration camp gas chamber.

“Auschwitz” can be found among a slew of other graphic novels at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. This collection is only about a year old, and so graphic novel fans may have to look a little bit harder than normal
to find it.

“We don’t have an established Graphic Novel section yet,” said Brian Adams, TSCPL Bookmobile associate and graphic novel enthusiast. “Right now, it’s in the New Books section, and I don’t know if the adult fans have found them yet since they’re so new to the library. It hasn’t caught on yet.”

Once it does catch on, fans of the genre should be pleased with what they find. The single shelf containing the books seems to have a little something for everyone. Novels that have spawned successful films, such as Frank Miller’s “Sin City” and Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s “V For Vendetta,” are there to delight their readers with detailed depictions of sex, nudity and violence. Those who want their novel to be informative as well as entertaining will find non-fiction graphic novels, like “Our Cancer Year” by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner and the best-selling novel, “Epileptic” by David B. Traditionalists, will be pleasantly surprised to not only find all the ageless super heroes they’ve grown up with, but also the book that started it all — Frank Miller’s “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.”

“This book came out in 1986, and it really made graphic novels known,” said Adams. Before this, Batman was just a character on a ‘60s TV show. When this came out, everyone knew what it meant.

 

Melissa Treolo is a junior mass media and music major from Topeka. She can be reached at melissat@washburnreview.org.

 

 Here’s the link:

 

http://www.washburnreview.org/wureview/archive/vol132/iss21/ae.php

 

 

March 09, 2006

Dress Rehearsal

Kick-off for the third annual Dress Rehearsal took place on Wednesday night, actor
March 1 in the TSCPL Marvin Auditorium.  The Topeka High forensic team provided an outstanding performance. Ten young adults participated in a variety of public speaking categories. Topics such as Accountability, Flattery, Slang & Hair Loss were covered with poise and humor. Ann Bush from the Topeka Capital Journal was on hand to write an article about these very talented students. Congratulations to Ms. Pam McComas, forensic coach, for her amazing coaching skills. We look forward to enjoying additional performance from Topeka High in the future.